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CTV’s London 2012 Promotional Campaign Begins Sunday

The London 2012 Olympic Games are less than six months away. This Sunday, during their Super Bowl XLVI coverage, CTV will debut a series of new promotional ads for their London 2012 coverage. Gorden Pinsent returns as the narrator for some ads, while Halifax’s Ellen Page will narrate others. Here is CTV’s press release about the new campaign.

It’s Super Buzz Weekend on CTV. The network announced today that it will launch its new BELIEVE promotional campaign in support of its broadcast of the London 2012 Olympic Games during its exclusive coverage of SUPER BOWL XLVI this Sunday. Featuring the voices of Canadian actors Ellen Page and Gordon Pinsent on CTV and TSN, the campaign begins just after the six-month countdown to London 2012 was marked on January 27. Additionally, the network will use the opportunity to debut more than one hundred versions of never-seen-before, on-air creative, supporting CTV’s star-studded mid-season schedule and upcoming programming on Bell Media specialty channels.

“The SUPER BOWL is not only an amazing platform for clients to reach their customers by the millions, but it is also a tremendous opportunity for us to introduce, tease, and launch campaigns for upcoming programming on CTV and other Bell Media properties,” said Rick Lewchuk, Senior Vice-President, Bell Media Agency. “In addition to introducing the stunning new London 2012 BELIEVE campaign, we are keeping the overall SUPER BOWL viewing experience as fresh as possible with a wide range of brand-new creative.”

The original award-winning BELIEVE campaign debuted in advance of the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games – helping to inspire a nation and introduce Canadians to its Olympic heroes. The London 2012 BELIEVE campaign rekindles the incredible feeling of national pride that grew out of Vancouver 2010, engaging new Canadians by showcasing how the Olympic spirit of BELIEVE has spread to their homelands. Showcasing both Canadian and international athletes, the production involved three separate crews shooting over six months across Canada, the U.S., India, China, the Philippines, Poland, Italy, Portugal, Jamaica, Scotland, and England to create the look and feel of a trailer for a dramatic feature film.

The Bell Media Agency will also unveil new creative for upcoming sporting events including TSN’s TradeCentre, NCAA March Madness, SCOTTIES TOURNAMENT OF HEARTS, and the 100th Grey Cup, as well as promote the upcoming original CTV documentary DARKNESS AND HOPE: DEPRESSION, SPORTS AND ME (Feb. 8) in support of next Wednesday’s Bell Let’s Talk Day.

About Believe

In the six-month rollout of this year’s campaign, a total of 29 different image spots of various lengths have been produced to air on CTV and TSN, and in French on RDS. Academy Award® nominee Ellen Page and legendary Gemini Award-winning actor Gordon Pinsent voice the promos airing on CTV and TSN respectively. The RDS campaign spots are voiced by popular Quebecois actor Pierre Lebeau.

The Vancouver 2010 BELIEVE campaign has been internationally recognized, winning 13 PromaxBDA Awards, including the World Gold for “Live Event Campaign.”

The BELIEVE campaign was created, developed, and produced by the award-winning Bell Media Agency. Rick Lewchuk is Senior Vice-President, Bell Media Agency and Brand Strategy. Sandy Fraser is Senior Director of Olympic Promotion.

Here is a sample of the new CTV promos. Continue after the break for more samples.

Here are two more “I Believe” promos for CTV’s London Olympic coverage.

I guess we can only hope they find a new song to bombard us with day and night, I still have nightmares about that Yanovski chick. I actually didn’t mind the instrumental theme they used for bumpers (still prefer the old CBC olympic theme, but this one was alright)… but by Day 2 in Vancouver I was so sick of hearing the vocal version any time they cut to the studio I’d just mute the tv. I pity the poor editors having to cut 30 some montages to the SAME SONG.

I see no reason to change “Believe”, its a brand and it worked in Vancouver.

As for the song, I agree. I actually really like the instrumental version, but what made CBC’s coverage great was how they choose different (and usually great) songs for their montages. CBC’s Olympic montages are legendary, CTV needs to do something different than 2010 to live up to them.

My issue was more with the over use of the song than the branding. I like the athlete profiles, it’s nice to get their names out there… though when they start trying to pull on the heart strings it gets a little cheesy at times. Leave the olympic melodrama to NBC IMHO.